In doing a search on CMO, looking for some information about chief marketing officers, up popped a story about Disney’s nationwide contest for its first ever Disney Parks CMO – a chief magic official. 

The CMO job responsibilities: traveling to Disneyland and Walt Disney resorts to help create magical experiences for guests, participate in events and be a behind-the-scenes wizard with the Walt Disney Imagineers.

More than 1,300 people entered the contest. Peter Yu, one of the finalists, got high marks for his infomercial promoting a fictional CMO College called the Magical Institute & Center for Knowledge, Education & literacY (MICKEY, sort of.) Classes included “How to Whistle While You Work,” and “How to Fastpass Your Way to the Top.”  Not bad ideas for we marketers. But it was high school teacher Justin Muchoney who won based on his ideas on how to connect people with the Disney Magic.

His wining idea came down to five concepts that he believes can be shared with people in many ways, big and small:

1.     Exuberance.
2.     Optimism.
3.     Vision.
4.     Passion.
5.     Innovative Magic.

Explaining why he’s the man for the job, Justin wrote, “It is my supreme goal in life to create unforgettable experiences that draw people closer together. I aspire to build deep and meaningful relationships and to help people experience the awesome wonders life has to offer. I constantly dream up new events experiences or even moments when the people I encounter can join together and share in a memorable adventure.”

Justin may be more experienced in leading the high school marching band, but his concepts are as relevant for today’s chief marketing officer as Disney’s chief magic official. Create experiences for people that are memorable. That they rave about with other people. That they keep coming back to in order to buy more of.

Justin also may be onto something about the potential value of the five concepts to how we think of ourselves as marketing leaders, in shaping marketing strategy, and in creating focus for your people and agencies.

• Be passionate and exuberant about the value your brand is providing to your customers. (If you can’t be – is it you or do you need to improve the brand?)
• Be innovative and visionary about constantly improving the current offering and customer experience. (Blockbuster brought a more innovative approach to traditional video rental stores, but then go eclipsed by Netflix.)
• Above all, be optimistic in believing what’s possible. People follow optimists, get energy from them, want to buy from them and work with and for them.